Topical items and views on the impact of digitisation on publishing and its content and the issues that make the news. This blog follows the report 'Brave New World',
(http://www.ewidgetsonline.com/vcil/bravenewworld.html ), published by the Booksellers Association of the UK and Ireland and authored by Martyn Daniels. The views and comments expressed are those of the author.

Saturday, April 06, 2013

Digital Evolution: Part 1 Music

When we look at today’s digital revolution we often see
disruptive change. Many shout, ‘out with the old and in with the new,’ but we
have to often ask if the new is really ‘new’, or merely a reiteration of the
past? What once worked, but became uneconomic, or inefficient, or was often constrained
by the technology of the day, can often come back, without the baggage that once
burdened it in its previous days. Suddenly we have a renaissance, a new
opportunity, a new dawn.

Music is a
classic example where the constraints of the technology inhibited or defined
the form. What was once accepted as efficient soon was overtaken by technology
that tackled that which limited its performance or capacity. The length of a
single or an album was determined not by the content but originally by the constraints
of Vinyl. When we were released from those constraints we often found other
inhibitors with eight-track, cassettes and even CDs. When we went digital these
constraints were no longer with the media, but the network and its capacity to transfer
files. Now we have the cloud and super-fast connectivity and these has spawned streamed
services such as Spotify and Pandora.

We now have to question the definition of
recorded music itself.

During the vinyl evolution the LP, or album, came into its
own and moved its content from a collection of tracks to the concept album.
Then digital allowed users to pick and mix their own playlists of tracks. No longer did
they have to buy the whole album, or the unwanted ‘B’ side, they could just
buy what they wanted and create their own mix playlists. The only time constraint was
with the consumer. We often refer to this as the ‘iTunes moment’.

However many
producers wanted to restrict sharing, copying and imposed unsociable DRM locks
on the material. Thankfully, the threat of Napster, Kazaa and bit torrent made
them see sense and music freed itself from proprietary formats and went MP3. MP3 wasn't the best format but it was the common one all could adopt.

The neutralization of the format has enabled us all to copy
and share our music. We now question whether we have to even own all our
musi, or build big repositories of music we hardly even listen to. Faster
communications allows us now pull down the music on demand from the cloud and
even enjoy it on or offline. This has changed not only how we collect our music,
play it, but also the payment model itself. We are now moving from pay to own
to pay to play and subscribe to as much as you want.

Unless you went to a live concert, music pre-digital could
be described as ‘one dimensional’ and that dimension was pre-recorded audio.
MTV was one of the pioneers that introduced us to the music video, but again it
was initially constrained and supplied on a broadcast or CD/DVD format. You
could buy music video and later CDs but the opportunity to recreate the concert
and live music was heavily reliant on a film and sound crew, and limited it to
the bigger and wealthier artists.

Digital cameras and video not only spawned YouTube, they smashed
the ‘packaged’ music video and concert. YouTube Myspace, Facebook etc have democratized the music video and made it possible for everyone to record and share live
music. It is now claimed that more kids today watch their music than listen to it.
No longer is the music video restricted to the ‘haves’ it is now available to
anyone with a smartphone to create, record and share.

Musician and ex Talking Heads lead, David Byrne was one of the first artists to recognise this
and open his concert performances by encouraging the audience to film it and
post it on the net. In his book ‘How Music Works’ he says, ‘In the past, performers would at least try to limit amateur
photographers and especially video cameras, but now that idea seemed simply
ridiculous- hopeless. We realised there was a silver lining: they liked our
show and their postings were functioning as free advertising. The thing we were
supposed to be fighting against was actually something we should be
encouraging. They were getting the word out, and it wasn’t costing me anything.
I began to announce at the beginning of the shows that photography was welcome,
but I suggested to please only post shots and videos where we look good.’

People’s music taste is probably more eclectic than ever and
no longer restricted to what they hear on the radio or the top ten. The big
artists still dominate the market but the music tail grows ever longer.

It’s often hard to accept that up until 1878, music was restricted to the live performance, be it in the home, on
the streets, in bars and clubs or in concert halls. The original recorded
format was restricted in both length and quality. Sousa
feared, that we would see the recording as the master and the live performance
as secondary and this has largely prevailed over the last century. However, today digital
and communications have brought us full circle and the only constraint is often
the ability to discover that something you had never heard before. Live,
uncensored music can be created by anyone and delivered to potentially millions
in real time.

Perhaps we will next address the 'dumming down' ,or restriction of the quality master tape by the format and await Neil Young’s Pono venture. What is interesting, is that in an emerging on demand world we will no longer have to replace our collection. It may be that MP3 becomes the free sub standard rendition whilst you pay for the quality one. Many will continue to search for the money but whatever happens this may be the case.

No comments:

About Me

Before entering publishing I worked for many years as a Senior Executive in blue chip organisations in the retail, oil and automotive sectors. My publishing induction was initially as Director of Strategic Development at VISTA. There I was responsible for, and a contributor to, their highly acclaimed ‘Publishing in the 21st Century’ research series, the primary creator behind publishing services PubEasy and ‘batch.co.uk’, the initiator of the development of new Front Office systems to support publishers. In 2006 I joined Value Chain International(VCIL) initially as VP Marketing, Media and Publishing before becoming their President in 2009. In July 2011 the company's operations were acquired by Syncordia. I hold two non executive positions with publishing industry players Bibliophile Ltd and Haven Group and currently setting up Read Petite a service focused on providing digital short form material online via subscription.
Email mdaniels@opus57.co.uk